Not Me : 🎨 Yok's Tapestry 🔻this Is Not a Yok/Dan story🔻

Twenty🎨

No one spoke on the drive back. A tense silence in which our guilt and frustration left us more perplexed than ever. At first we couldn't believe that Danai was alive and that he was the bad guy. We thought we found the evidence of his guilt and we believed it.

Now we can't believe that he'd died, killed by the very person we thought he had been loyal too. We were wrong. What had Danai been doing and why had Tawi turned on him?. More importantly who was the person now on the run with all that stolen money and why had he impersonated Danai.

He wore Danai's clothes, he's perfume, appeared in places only Dan would know. Why had he targeted me? Why Finn? Why the kidnapping? We thought we had unraveled everything instead we knew less than we did at the start. We were frustrated, we were angry , we were confused and we were guilty.....

By the time we stopped at home we still hadn't quite wrapped our heads around what happened. I stepped inside and found Mae, Sammy and Finn waiting. I couldn't find the words to explain what had happened.

I stood frozen in my kitchen and felt as if the four walls were moving in on me from all sides. The room seemed to spin. I needed the bathroom. I ran past all three and headed upstairs to my room. Slamming the door shut with a bang, my head out the window, trying to take a breath. I recognised the panic attack I was experiencing and forced myself to control my breathing. In. .... Out....in.... out... Slow slow...
Until I didn't feel like I was about to faint anymore.

Much later I headed downstairs. I found mae alone in the house. "Where's Finn?" "He left with Sammy " "Why, wasn't he staying over?" "He thought it best to stay at Sammy's considering what happened." "White and Sean told you?" "They did. To say the least, we were all shocked. Is it possible....that Danai is gone?"

"It's possible Mae, I think it's a fact. " "Then who was the person you saw?" "I don't know. It may be I'm losing my mind. Maybe I imagined all those sightings. " "I saw him too. Does that mean I'm losing my mind too? I think someone is messing with you, with us ...." "Mae you need to be careful please." "And you need to speak to Finn. He must be shocked too. " " I will Mae, just not yet ."

That night I could hardly sleep. It felt like I was losing Danai all over again. I had mourned and I'd learned to love again, now I'm dealing with death again. I truly love Finn, but did my actions lead to Danai's death? Did I carry any blame in this? How could I doubt his character? He never mistreated me, not since that one night and I was ready to accept him as a murderer.......

I woke up drenched in sweat, but I knew what I had to do. I needed to make amends to Danai and his family, whoever was left of them. I grabbed some clothes stuffed them into a bag and left a note for Mae. It was dark out, but Danai's Island was a long way away. I called a cab and headed for the airport.

It was a long flight but I finally landed at the tiny ramshackle airport. Calling it an airport doesn't seem quite right, it only has one runway, can only handle small planes and helicopters and is more for emergencies than anything else. Nonetheless here I was. One bus ride and I'd be able to visit Dan's burial place. The place his family had chosen for him years ago.

I called Mae to say where I was and asked her please not to tell anyone. She said Finn had come by and collected the last of his clothes. Mae warned me that if I didn't speak to Finn soon I'd lose him, for good this time. I promised I'd call, but there's something I needed to do first.

I finally made it to Danai's family home. I was welcomed like a lost son. At first I thought of not saying anything but I thought eventually it would be reported on. I wouldn't want anyone finding out what happened to their loved one in that manner.

Over the next few days I slowly told them what happened. They were shocked but understanding. They even mentioned that months ago there had been someone asking about Danai. They couldn't remember the person's name and had only a vague recollection of what he looked like. They would let me know if there was anything else or if they remembered.

Five days later we got the call. The remains were that of Danai. An official investigation would be launched. Finally it wasn't just Sean, White, myself and Sammy trying find out what happened anymore. We were getting some serious assistance. Rather, we were now nothing more than informants....

We had a ceremony for Danai and eventually he was laid to rest with his parents, for a second time. I needed to say goodbye to Danai again, but this time I was stronger and I had something to live for. Two weeks had passed before I finally made it home again.

Mae was waiting for me as she had always been. White and Sean had come by as they couldn't be at Danai's memorial. Mae made lunch and we sat around the table catching up on events of the past two weeks. Much had been uncovered and much more was hidden.

Sammy joined our little chat and filled in some of the blanks. The watch had been the reason I was targeted. They wanted me to believe that Danai was alive and coming after me for that watch. I was supposed to be a pushover but it turned out I was as much of an obstacle to them as Danai.

The watch of course carried the combination to Tawi's safe. Apparently Dan had been working undercover as a spy in Tawi's organisation when he discovered the combination, but he kept it a secret and took it to his grave. Tawi was killed because they thought they had everything they needed. Turns out the made a premature acessment. Police are now fully investigating and we were told to back off, for our own sakes.

I guess we needed nothing more from the case other than to know who it was. We decided to leave it to the police and get on with the act of living our lives. We chatted, ate and drank. By the time Sean and White excused themselves it was quite late. Mae headed to bed saying she needed sleep. Sammy was about to take her leave when I asked her to stay a bit longer.

We sat at the table with steaming mugs of coffee. I began by telling her how fervently Finn had always advocated for her and that she had indeed become a good friend as he said she would. Eventually I had to ask the question that had been burning in my heart all night, "How is Finn?"

"I suppose one could say he's good. He's gone back to work. I guess work has always been a cure for a broken heart." "Why would his heart be broken?" Sammy looked at me incredulously.

"Am I misunderstanding something Yok?" "What's there to misunderstand, I needed to deal with Danai's remains. Somebody needed to speak to his family. Finn and I had an agreement. He'd wait until I sorted things out, but he left. He moved out the same day we found out. That's hardly waiting. Now he's even gone back to work. "

"Yok, we know discovering Danai's remains was a shock, but you never once spoke to Finn. What agreement are you talking about? You left him hanging. What else could he do. He went home. " " If course we had an agreement. After he was kidnapped, when he came back, he said he'd wait while I sorted this case out involving Danai. Once things were clearer we'd able to focus on our relationship."

"That was when you both thought Danai was alive. He said he'd wait until you were clear as to whether it was him you wanted, or Danai." "And I told him I chose him ." ".......but then you disappeared Yok, mourning the same man you did before. Finn could wait ...and compete with a living crooked man, but asking him to compete for your affection with a dead man? I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh, but you broke my friend's heart.... Again. If I was him I'd leave too."

"Wait, you said he went home. What do you mean home?" "Home Yok, to America."